Hamilton warned off honoring Kaepernick at 2017 U.S. Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton was planning on wearing a Colin Kaepernick helmet at the 2017 U.S. Grand Prix before he was warned off doing so.

"I was advised from the outside, from someone in the States who was really quite high up, that it wasn't the time for me to be doing so," Hamilton said, according to Nate Saunders of ESPN.

"There were potential consequences for me doing it. So that's why they advised me not to do it."

These remarks come days after Hamilton said he was silenced in 2017 from paying tribute to Kaepernick, which he has regretted ever since.

At last weekend's season-opening Austrian GP, Hamilton donned a "Black Lives Matter" shirt and knelt alongside 13 other drivers in support of fighting systemic racism and injustice.

"I'm grateful that I was able to do it last weekend (take the knee), and continue on the great movement I think he initially started (that) so many are continuing on today."

Hamilton will be wearing a "Black Lives" tribute helmet for the duration of the 2020 season. The next race on the schedule is the Styrian GP set for Sunday, July 12, at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.